Christoph König

conductor

“

Christoph König's fiery enthusiasm made for an eye-opening performance of Beethoven's Symphony No 3, Eroica...Above all, he reinvigorated the symphony and made it sound fresh and alive.

” The Herald

Christoph König is a conductor of deep intelligence and musicality. His conducting is marked by an energetic and serious approach to musical collaboration and a commitment to thoughtful and stimulating programming. He currently holds positions as  Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música (2009-14) and Music Director of the Solistes Européens Luxembourg.  In Porto he is currently conducting a Mahler cycle, which included a performance of Symphony No 1 at the Vienna Konzerthaus last season.  Following Vienna, his tours with the orchestra include Brazil (July 2011) and northern Europe (October 2011).

König is in demand as a guest conductor. His recent performances have included engagements with the Orchestre de Paris, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Norwegian Radio Orchestra Oslo, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Real Filharmoniá de Galicia, Radio Orchestra (RTVE) in Madrid, Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra whom he led on a highly successful tour of China (May 2008).   His US debut last season with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (Mahler Symphony No 5) resulted in an immediate re-invitation and this season he will also conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Vancouver Symphony and the Colorado Symphony Orchestras.  Other future engagements include return visits to the Orchestre de Paris, the Toronto and Houston Symphony, and performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and the Oregon and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, amongst others. He made his debut with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in August 2011.

Christoph's reputation as an opera conductor rose swiftly after stepping in at short notice to successfully direct the Zürich Opera’s 2003 production of Jonathan Miller’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He has also led Zurich Opera in productions of Die Zauberflöte and Il Turco in Italia with Cecilia Bartoli and Ruggero Raimondi.   Other operatic productions include Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper in Stuttgart and Die Zauberflöte and Rigoletto at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

CD recordings include works by Gösta Nystroem (BIS), Schoenberg and Prokofiev (Romeo & Juliet), Saariaho and Sibelius (Symphony No 7) with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música (Ao Vivo), Melcer with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Hyperion), Beethoven Symphonies with the Malmo Symphony Orchestra (DB Productions) and Prokofiev and Mozart with the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg (SEL Classics).  His recording with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto was featured on the front cover of BBC Music Magazine in September 2009.

König was born in Dresden, where he sang in the celebrated Dresdner Kreuzchor. He studied conducting, piano and singing at the Dresdner Musikhochschule. His early work as a conductor took him to masterclasses given by, amongst others, Sergiu Celibidache, and Sir Colin Davis by whom he was invited to work as assistant conductor for both concerts and opera productions with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. He began his professional career as Erster Kapellmeister in Wuppertal/Gelsenkirchen.

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Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música

Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música has been conducted by guest conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Reinbert de Leeuw, Vasily Petrenko, Tugan Sokhiev, Martin André, Peter Rundel, Yves Abel, Joseph Swensen, Takuo Yuasa, Pablo Heras-Casado, Olari Elts, John Storgårds and Joana Carneiro. It has performed with soloists including António Meneses, Håkan Hardenberger, Andreas Haefliger, Boris Berezovsky, Natalia Gutman, Christian Lindberg, Marc-André Hamelin, Sequeira Costa, Simon Trpčeski, Gerardo Ribeiro, Lise de la Salle, Ana Bela Chaves, Martin Grubinger, Midori, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Lisa Milne, Birgit Remmert, Joyce DiDonato, Elisabete Matos, Anssi Karttunen or Steven Isserlis. It has worked with some of the foremost contemporary composers, from Emmanuel Nunes to Magnus Lindberg, Jonathan Harvey and Kaija Saariaho.

In the coming months guest conductors such as Michail Jurowski, Matthias Bamert and Andrew Litton will make their debuts, as well as soloists like Till Fellner, Kari Kriikku, David Wilson-Johnson, Brandford Marsalis, Christoph Prégardien and Daniel Müller-Schott.

Photograph of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música

The activities of the orchestra include a wide range of musical styles, such as jazz, fado or hip-hop and playing for films, as well as regular series of concerts involving presenters. Equally there is a strong commitment towards educational activities: each year, as part of the project "The orchestra goes to school", the orchestra visits a range of schools in the region. Further, it undertakes workshops for young composers as well as master classes for conductors under the supervision of the famous teacher and conductor Jorma Panula. During the 2010-2011 seasons it will be the first Portuguese orchestra to perform all of Mahler's symphonies.

Apart from performing over fifty concerts per year at Casa da Música, it is increasingly performing outside Porto, having visited the Konzerthaus in Vienna , the Auditorium in Santiago de Compostela, and the Grande Auditório Gulbenkian in Lisbon in 2010. The coming year sees performances at the Philharmonie in Luxemburg, at the deSingel in Antwerp and at the Doelen in Rotterdam as well as return visits to Santiago de Compostela and Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon.

The Orchestra has recently recorded works by Jonathan Harvey, Schoenberg, Prokofiev, Sibelius and Kaija Saariaho. It also recorded "Follow The Songlines" for Naïve.

The origins of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música go back to 1947, when the Orquestra Sinfónica do Conservatório de Música do Porto was formed, which was later made part of Emissora Nacional (the national radio station). Since then, it has had different names, the last of which being Orquestra Nacional do Porto, the name it carried from 1997 and under which it was expanded to symphonic size in 2000. Presently is has 94 permanent members, which enables it to perform the entire symphonic repertoire from the classical period to the 21st century. The Orchestra has been part of Fundação Casa da Música since July 2006.

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Solistes Européens, Luxembourg

They are Europeans, these musicians from the best orchestras of the old continent who have been playing together regularly in Luxembourg for more than 20 years - their first concert was on 20 September 1989 - in concerts and making recordings. They also tour regularly.

Every season in Luxembourg, and now in the capital's magnificent Philharmonie, they offer their faithful public two cycles of Monday concerts. They also appear at the international festivals of Echternach and Wiltz. They have accompanied the most renowned soloists and captivated both audiences and critics in the major European musical centers. In May 2004 they performed at the UN in New York to mark the EU enlargement.

Photograph of the Solisted Européens, Luxembourg.

The Solistes Européens, Luxembourg have recorded more than 100 CDs, including all Haydn's London Symphonies on Sony Classical, and 7 DVDs. They have performed on German, Czech, Hungarian and Polish TV and on many European, American and Asian radio stations through made broadcasts of their concerts by the EUR network. They have a very large repertoire and by playing works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Milan Slavicky, Arvo Pärt and Thierry Escaich, they have extended their range to contemporary composers.

Equally eager to promote the future of music, each season the Solistes Européens,Luxembourg organize concerts for young talents: Since 2006 they have been a partner of MIDEM CLASSICAL AWARDS for the "Outstanding Young Artist " in partnership with IAMA, the International Artists Managers' Association. In 2007 they were the official orchestra of the Midem Classical Awards Ceremony.

In September 2010 Christoph König has been appointed Musical Director and Principal conductor.

They founded and promote the European Music Academy at Schengen (EMA). In 2005 they started, in the chamber music hall of the Philharmonie Luxembourg, an CAMERATA cycle entitled "From one generation to the other".

The SEL, whose activities are supported by the Ministry of Culture, Higher Education and Research, the Fonds Culturel National, Ville de Luxembourg and numerous sponsors is one of the main hubs of Luxembourg's musical life.

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